Just a Boy
by Starlightmonkey
Summary: SEQUEL TO JUST A GIRL. Hermione Granger has a realization at midnight. ONESHOT.


Hey people! This is the sequel to Just a Girl and is told in Hermione's POV. I'm not too sure I like the way that it's written but it just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. Please tell me what you think as it will be greatly appreciated.

Anyways that's it from me so please read, remember to review and hopefully enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter evidently doesn't belong to me otherwise I would be rich and not have huge student loans to pay off!

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**Just a Boy**

The radiant and luminous moonlight danced and chased the never ending shadows around me as I sat on the cold slabs of stone that formed the floor of the Astronomy Tower. I continued to observe the patterns that were created by the two opposing elements, compelled by the intricate designs and the way that the light and dark interacted with one another. It was almost like they were fighting for dominance, power and control, even though the battle was eternal.

With that thought my attention was drawn back to what I had come up here so late at night to contemplate.

The approaching war.

I had long come to terms with its imminent arrival and the fact that the Wizarding World was now in a state of disarray and divide. I had come to understand that there existed those that would never accept me or my kind, muggle-borns that is, in the magical world and who would do anything to ostracize and destroy us if the chance arose.

Why?

To be truthful I still couldn't comprehend the motives behind such unfounded and pronounced hate but nonetheless it was there and that was enough. It was enough to cause witches and wizards to turn on one another and for acts of unspeakable cruelty and malice to be performed as a result. It didn't have to make sense for those that believed so religiously in it and who held such a determination to see their cause achieved. They were willing to kill and torture those they considered inferior because of their ancestry even though their reasoning and logic behind such attacks was essentially fabricated.

And all of this pain and evil was the product of one person's debauched aim of power and absolute authority over all others.

Voldemort…he was the source of it all.

He was the overall cause of the war and all that went along with it. When I look at everything, I can see that he is ultimately responsible for it all. Even though the Death Eaters carry out most of the atrocities, he sanctioned them to occur and planted the seeds of odium and detestation in the minds of those who were susceptible to his manipulations and control. He encourages them to do his work and spread his vision, not that the Death Eaters aren't guilty of their crimes. No, far from it. It's just that I think that if Voldemort hadn't existed then they wouldn't have pushed so far to extend their beliefs and corrupted vision in the Wizarding World. They wouldn't have gone to such extents. Well, at least that's what I like to think.

Voldemort…it all stemmed from him.

He's why Harry doesn't have any parents, why Sirius is dead, and why Neville's parents were tortured into insanity. The reason why Hannah Abbot's mother was killed, why Cedric Diggory is dead, and why so many mysterious disappearances are occurring so frequently.

He is the sole explanation for why the Wizarding World is in such chaos and turmoil and why trust, acceptance and understanding of others doesn't subsist anymore. He is why discrimination, prejudice, and fear are the only emotions and actions that people will display to those that they do not know. Really, he is why our world is disintegrating before our very own eyes and why those so young are being forced to choose a side in the looming battle between good and evil.

Voldemort and his grand scheme of submission for all the magical world is why my friends and I will fight in the war and why many of us will die. He is the reason why I will be facing many of my school peers in duels to the death and why so many of them won't get a choice in whether they are destined for the Dark side or not. They will be made to maim and annihilate because of their parents devotion to the madman himself without a thought as to their own desires. They will become just like their parents.

Heck, I think some of them are already in the Dark Lord's ranks; whether that be against their will or not I'm unsure about. One of the things that scares me the most about the war is precisely this situation. Having to accept that some of the people I grew up with are not able to withstand the pressure and expectations of others and have succumbed to the evil. That they are somehow capable of such acts of violence and now live with the blood of others on their hands making them appear inhuman in my opinion. Even though several of them (actually most of the Slytherin's, particularly Malfoy) have threatened me and promised to harm me when the chance comes, I still can't seem to comprehend the fact that they may really be able to follow it through. I realize that it's incredibly naïve of me, but I guess that's just how I feel.

But at the same time I know that some of them will be, and even already are, heartless monsters who will not hesitate to strike and work at ridding the world of muggle-borns or 'mudbloods' as they like to call us. I can recognize that maybe they are different from me.

I am suddenly jolted from my troubled thoughts by the soft sound of footsteps approaching the great wooden door that separates me from the outside environment. My solitude has been disturbed and I quickly stand up, anticipating coming face to face with a Professor ready to punish me for being out of bed after curfew.

Instead of an angry Professor, my gaze is met with a bent head of shocking white gold hair. As he slowly raises his face to me, I am confronted with two stormy slate orbs that bore into the depths of my own with such intensity that I can't help but reach a startling conclusion.

He wasn't Draco Malfoy, the arrogant git whose whole purpose in life is to make mine miserable. He wasn't the Slytherin Prince, the second top student of our year, or the son of Lucius Malfoy. He wasn't the bane of my existence, the protégé of the Dark side, or Snape's favourite student. He wasn't even a cold, unfeeling suspected Death Eater anymore.

He was a boy.

_Just a boy_.

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Please R&R everybody! 


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